Archive for February, 2008
February 29th, 2008 at 01:27pm
The European Court of Human Rights, in Mansuroglu v. Turkey, recently ruled that Turkey had violated Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights during a 1996 anti-terrorism operation conducted against the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK). The incident, during which the applicants’ son was killed and the applicant was “inhumanely treated,” violated the Convention’s right to life and prohibition against inhumane treatment. While the Court accepted that Turkey had a general right to conduct the operation, it was not convinced that the operation had been planned so as to minimize the risk to human life. The Court emphasized the lack of an effective investigation, noting that the Turkish government neglected to examine the weapon that was used in the shooting and did not interview the police officers involved in the incident.
For more information, please click here.
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February 29th, 2008 at 11:41am
In a recent decision, the European Court of Justice opined that only cheeses bearing the protected denomination of origin (PDO) ‘Parmigiano-Reggiano’ could be sold under the denomination ‘Parmesan’. The decision has set a valuable precedent in the EU for numerous other cases where European geographical indications, worth billions of Euros and having cultural and historic value are threatened by counterfeiters around the world. In reaching this decision the court interpreted and elaborated the concept of ex officio protection of geographical indications in Europe.
For more information, click here.
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February 29th, 2008 at 12:22am
The Director General of the WTO outlined the new roadmap for the Aid-for-Trade program at a meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development on February 25. The roadmap emphasizes three points: monitoring, implementation, and greater involvement of developing nations.
Improved monitoring of increased trade flows and the direct impact of projects would allow goals to be set and progress to be measured. The Director General has asked the OECD and World Bank to consider what indexes and performance indicators could assist in measurement of progress. Following the advice of the Regional Reviews, implementation of programs will be emphasized by creation of national and sub-regional Aid-for-Trade Reviews in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. The Reviews would have the goal of highlighting successful strategies and creating incentives for implementation of programs. Finally, the roadmap proposes that developing nations take a more active role in the administration of the program as a way of more effectively mobilizing domestic and international constituencies.
Director General Pascal Lamy’s speech is available here.
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February 25th, 2008 at 11:43am
Although Kosovars did not get the new flag that its majority seemingly so desperately wanted, the Kosovar parliament officially became the final state of the former Yugoslavia to gain its independence by settling for a blue flag with white stars bearing a yellow map of Kosovo. On February 17, 2008, after the failure of UN-sponsored negotiations to finally determine Kosovo’s constitutional status, Kosovo’s provisional government unilaterally declared its nation’s independence.
The Western European powers, including France, Germany and Britain, recognized Kosovo; the United States did so as well. President Bush sent a letter to independent Kosovo’s first president. All parties were careful to point out that their approval of Kosovo’s secession did not extend to automatic recognition of future separatist movements, a declaration possibly aimed at avoiding the fracture of temporarily calm Bosnia. Naturally, Russia, Serbia’s long-term ally, and several nations concerned about its influence on their own secession movements, including Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia, have withheld recognition.
For more information, click here.
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February 25th, 2008 at 06:05am
The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) upheld the convictions and sentences of three rebel leaders on February 22. The defendants were former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), a military group that supported Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 1990s. The three men, Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara, and Santigie Sorbor Kanu, were given sentences of 45 to 50 years for war crimes and crimes against humanity. They were found guilty of 11 charges, including acts of terrorism, murder, rape, enslavement, and military conscription of children under the age of fifteen. The full text of the decision can be found here.
On a separate note, the Court is currently convening a conference to address issues related to the cessation of its judicial activities. The Court’s press release can be found here.
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February 25th, 2008 at 05:51am
In an effort to meet its goal to try all defendants by the end of 2008, the Security Council has agreed to temporarily add four judges to the UN Tribunal set up after the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which proposed the appointment of the additional judges, now may have up to 16 ad litem (or temporary) judges serving on it at any one time, in addition to the 16 permanent judges on the court. Though the new judges cannot serve past the end of the year, the resolution states that they should help the ICTY “conduct additional trials…in order to meet completion strategy objectives.”
In a related story, the ICTY granted temporary leave to five former Bosnian Croat leaders, accused of, among other war crimes, murder, rape, and the wanton destruction of cities. The crimes were committed in 1992 and 1993 against Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decision to grant leave means that the accused will reside in Croatia until May 4th, the day before the defense case in their collective trial is to begin. However, just two days later, the ICTY stayed the release, fearing that the men could be flight risks. As a result, the accused will remain in ICTY custody until the appeals chamber has a chance to rule on the merits of the prosecution’s appeal of the order granting the temporary leave.
For more information on the new judges, please click here. To read more about the decision to grant the temporary leave, please click here. To read more about decision to the stay the leave, please click here.
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February 24th, 2008 at 02:01am
The OECD, a Paris-based organization that aims to facilitate economic cooperation among 30 leading industrialized nations, recently released a report elucidating general trends in immigration in OECD countries. The report found that immigrants in OECD countries are generally better educated than locally-born populations. Roughly one in four immigrants have earned a university education, compared to the roughly one in five native-born residents who have done so. This is almost universally accompanied, however, by what OECD Secretary-General Angel GurrÃa called the “problem of overqualification”, whereby immigrants find it difficult to find jobs that match their abilities. GurrÃa urged OECD countries to put into place policies to alleviate issues underlying the problem, which include language barriers and difficulties in evaluating foreign institutions of higher education. The report also notes the magnitude of the “brain drain”, a term used to denote the massive migration of skilled workers away from poor, undeveloped countries. The impact is especially stark amongst small African and Caribbean countries, with many having 40% of their skilled workers and 50% of their health professionals living abroad.
For the full story, click here.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 04:09am
In Alexandridis v. Greece, the European Court of Human Rights recently held that obligating a person to reveal his religion constitutes a violation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The applicant, a Greek lawyer, alleged that he was asked to reveal whether he was an orthodox Christian when taking the oath of office. The Greek Government in response to the allegation stated that the applicant had been allowed to make a solemn declaration and refrain from disclosing his religion but was unable to exercise this option due to a procedural failure. The court also held there was no effective alternative remedy for the applicant, which qualified as a violation of Article 13, the right to an effective remedy, of the European Convention on Human Rights. For further details on this case, click here.
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February 21st, 2008 at 07:29pm
Callixte Nzabonimana was arrested February 18, 2008 in Kigoma, Tanzania. He is charged with six counts before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, including counts of Genocide, Conspiracy to commit genocide, Complicity in genocide, Incitements to commit genocide, Crimes against humanity and violation of the Geneva Convention. The 2001 indictment under which he is charged also listed six other men, Augustin Bizimana, Edouard Karemera, Andre Rwamakuba, Mathieu Ngirumpatse, Joseph Nzirorera and Felicien Kabuga. Nzabonimana is alleged to have participated in the planning of mass killings of Rwanda’s Tutsi population while serving as Minister of Youth and Sports.
Refer to the original UN Press release here and the ICTR press release here.
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February 18th, 2008 at 05:48pm
As part of the 2005 Action Plan for Nanotechnology, the European Commission has adopted seven principles that will guide research in that field. The principles are: meaning; sustainability; precaution; inclusiveness; excellence; innovation and accountability. The EC adopted these principles following the results of its July 2007 consultation on the Code of Conduct. Their aim is to minimize the potential hazards of nanotechnology research, provide transparency to the public and guarantee high quality scientific work that will lead to important technologies.
The European Commission is the world’s largest single funding agency for nanotechnology and nanosciences research, with 1.4 billion Euros allocated to 550 projects. More information on its nanotechnology initiatives is available here.
See the original press release here.
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